La Pizza e La Pasta — Restaurant in Nevada

My wife and I live in Las Vegas, so whenever we head down for a show or a concert, we pick a restaurant to visit. We went to LPeLP and I have to say I was disappointed with the food.

To start, we ordered a rustic bread appetizer with some EVOO to dip in. The oil was good, but the bread smelled like sourdough that came out of a loaf. It was not warm, crusty or anything special. 4 slices for 4 bucks. Decent enough to mop up the rest of my red sauce but it used to be included with the meal just a couple of years ago.

Arancini balls. These were outstanding, and maybe the highlight of the meal. However, again pricing is an issue. We received 2 arancini balls and they were $19. WOW. Excellent appetizer which is not at all worth the high price tag.

My gnocchi dish (pictured) was good, didn't have too much sauce (which was a good thing) but skimped on the seafood big time. VERY small mussels, clams and maybe a total of three shrimps chopped up and distributed in the dish. This dish was also an up charge of $10 on the special menu they offered. $41 dollars and WAY overpriced.

My wife's truffle fettuccini tasted good, but the noodles were overcooked and not true al dente (I'm Italian, that's how pasta is supposed to be cooked). Flavor wise on point, but overcooked noodles. That dish was $33 and way overpriced.

She got a lovely glass of wine, and a dessert, we lift with $117 bill. This meal should have been around 60 to 75 dollars. I understand the strip markup (again I live here) but this food is NOT good enough to warrant the price. I actually tipped less (despite the service being good) because the overall bill was so high. I do not feel bad about it.

Take it from someone who lives and eats here. There are much better Italian restaurants on (and off) the strip. This used to be a place we would take people who come and visit, but not anymore. We will not be back because the pricing is not at all representative of the quality of food; meaning the food is average, and the pricing is FAR...

Busy, but a nice atmosphere. The service was excellent, the staff were all very friendly and helpful. The slight let down was the food. The salad was nice and fresh, and the bread and olive oil was a nice starter to share.

The pizza, however, needs a bit of improvement. The dough tasted nice and had good elasticity, though may have benefited from slightly longer in the oven. The main issue must have stemmed from the sauce. The sauce tasted good at the edges, but towards the middle of the pizza it became a wet slop. My guess is that there was too much moisture in the sauce, which made the middle of the pizza into a puddle - causing the dough to become floppy and soggy whilst creating quite a mess, and causing the toppings to delaminate. It seems if the sauce was less moist, the issue would be resolved and the flavours could shine. The pizza could also use a bit more cheese - but then it’s possible mine all floated away… This all being said, we did opt for the thinner, wider version so it may be an isolated issue.

The calzone, too, was lacking. In Neapolitan style, there was sauce on the both the top and the inside of the calzone, so I cannot fault this aspect. However, the calzone was deflated and flat. It also suffered from the aforementioned moisture issue, so I’m not sure if it was this or poor construction that meant all of the filling was only in 1/3 of the calzone. So you had one bite full of meat, and the next with nothing but dough and watery sauce.

I would like to add that I’ve definitely had worse pizzas and calzones, without a doubt. However for a a restaurant such as it is, with prices as they are, I would certainly expect better. I will also say I do not believe that the issues lie with the staff at all - I’d imagine a slight ingredient or recipe change would fix the problems. Until then though, this is a barely mid-level restaurant masquerading as a fine dining establishment.

Would be two stars, but the staff were so friendly and nice, I’ve added...

What a huge disappointment. Let me start off by saying I worked in the pizza and Italian restaurant business for years when I was younger. Everything we ordered I have my before. The bufala mozzarella was dry and crumbly, not soft and milky. Having made my own mozzarella I could tell the curd wasn't properly stretched when making. The hotter the water and the longer you stretch it the better the consistency. This mozzarella crumbled like blue cheese. So I asked " are you sure this is imported bufala mozzarella and not some homemade domestic cheese?" I was told yes it's imported.

I ordered fresh pasta. Rigatoni. It was so hard and undercooked there is no way it didn't come from a box. Fresh pasta is inherently soft. Cooking it doesn't turn it hard.

The chef came to our table to explain. She had no answers but kept repeating yes, it's fresh. Yes it's bufala mozzarella. When I pointed out how I know they're not her response was always " I get it but it's fresh".

Only good thing about the pizza was that it was round. I watched their pizza maker stretch the dough by yanking it in every direction. This left areas where the pizza was almost 1/2" thick in certain spots and so thin in others the pizza would tear.

The spaghetti alla pomodoro was cooked so little that the tomatoes didn't have time to break down. Basically raw tomato sauce. It wasn't acidic, which is good, but it was way too sweet. I didn't taste sugar in the sauce. San Marzano tomatoes tend to be sweet and need salt to balance the sweetness.

It was sad because all the dishes lacked any flavor because there was no salt in any of them to bring out the flavor.

The only good thing was the bread they brought to the table. So I spent $200 on bread.

This place is run by amateurs who know nothing about Italian food. Their dishes were an insult. It's a tourist trap that preys on the unknowing.

I should've stood up and walked out the second I saw the pizza man not know how to make a...